490 BC Battle of Marathon, where
Greeks defeat the Persians in
battles at Bay of Marathon, 26 miles northeast of Athens. News of
the victory was carried by famed runner Pheidippedes, who ran the 26 miles
to Athens. This event is now commemorated in the modern 26 mile long
"Marathon" Race.

486 BC Death of Darius of
Persia, son Xerxes-I rules Persia until 465 BC

450 BC The "Twelve Tables" (of bronze)
created in Rome, defining the civil rights of the people and codes of law;
that became the basis of modern western criminal law and civil rights. They were
probably destroyed in an invasion in 387 BC.

450-400 Flowering of Greek culture during the
Age of Pericles

c. 444 BC Great statue of Athena by Phidias (c.500-c.432 BC
)in the Parthenon dedicated on the Acropolis in Athens Greece.

430 BC A great plague, (bubonic?) the
first to strike Europe?, kills 1/3 of population, ravages the Athean Greek Empire and
leads to its demise and eventual defeat by the Spartans,

429 BC Death of Pericles (443-429),
possibly due to plague of 430. Pericles brought the Athean Greek Empire to its
zenith.

424 BC Artaxerxes (grandson of
Darius) dies

421 BC Greek historian Plato recounts
Legend of Atlantis

420 BC Spartans are banned from
the Olympic Games at Elis, as Sparta was at War with Athens, with which Elis had
concluded a treaty.

415-413 Siege of Syracuse (east coast
of Sicely), Peloponnesian War (431-404), Athenians (22,000) attempt to capture Syracuse
from the Spartans (22,000) and are defeated, marking the beginning of the decline of
Athens and the rise of Sparta.

408 BC Two Horse Chariot Race becomes a
part of the Olympic Games

405 BC Seige of Viee, north of Rome,
begins

404 BC Peloponnesian Wars end, with
victory for Sparta over Athens, after 27 years

401 BC Battle of Cunaxa, First
Persian Civil War, near Babylon, in which Cyrus of Persia was killed in an
attempt (with a Spartan and Greek contingent) to seize the Persian throne from
his brother Artaxerxes II.

c. 400 BC First historical evidence for use of
catapults in war (Syracuse, Sicily - Greece vs Carthage) CatapultBallista Page

c. 400 BC Greek City of Sparta at his height of
power has 25,000 citizens and 500,000 slaves (do the per person math)

c. 400 BC Blast furnace permitting iron to be
smelted to a liquid (2600oF 1500oC) comes into use in
China.

399 BC Trial and execution of Greek
philosopher Socrates

396 BC Rome captures and destroys
Viee, north of Rome, after a 10 year siege, in its first major military
campaign

396 BC Competition for Trumpeters and
Heralds (town criers) added to the Olympic Games

391 BC Celtic raids into Roman territory

390 BC Celtic Gauls, under
Quinctilus, sack the City of Rome

388 BC June-1 Dedication of Temple to
Mars and associated rites

378 BC Servian Wall, 6 miles long,
completed around City of Rome; in response to Celtic attack in 390

371 BC July - Battle of Leuctra, War of
the Greek City States, Thebes, Greece. A Thebian force of 6,000 destroys
the military
prestige of Sparta (force of 11,000)

356 BC Temple of Artemus destroyed by
arson fire

356 BC June - Birth of Alexander the Great by some
reckonings

352 BC Great Mausoleum at
Halicarnassus, Asia Minor, erected in memory of Mausolus of Caria.

348 BC Second Navigation Treaty between
Rome and Carthage

c.347 BC Death of Plato (c.427 - 347 BC)

344 BC June-1 Dedication of
Temple to Juno Moneta

343-341 First Samnite War with tribes in south
central Italy - Short and Inconclusive

340-338 Latin War in which Rome gains control of
Latium, the region around the City of Rome

338 BC 2, Aug - Battle of Chaeronea (n/w of
Athens Greece) which gave Macedonia control of Central Greece after 4th Sacred
War (339-338)

321 BC Roman army defeated by the Samnites
at Caudine Forks (north of Naples)

c.320 BC Philosophy of Plato and Aristotle

312 BC Aqua Appia, first aquaduct to
Rome, from 10 miles east, begun - and the Via Appia also called
"Statius (Queen of Roads)" begun; both under supervision of Censor Appius
Claudius Caecus (the Blind)

306 BC Third Treaty between Rome and
Carthage

304 BC Second Samnite War ends with some
territorial gains for Rome

c. 300 BC Alexandria becomes first city in history with a
population of one million

298-290 Third Samnite War expands Roman control across
the Apennines to the Adriatic Sea

c.215 BC Construction of first Great (Ch'in) Wall of China,
3000 miles long and 20 feet high, from northwestern Korea to Lintoa in western China.
Portions still survive in good condition after 2000 years.

c.215 BC Smelting and casting of iron and first iron swords
developed in China

214 BC First Macedonian War of Rome
against Philip V of Macedon commences

207 BC Battle of Metaurus (south
of Fano on Adriatic coast of Italy), 2nd Punic War (219-202) where Marcus Livius
and Claudius Nero and Roman force of 50,000 defeated a Carthginian army (50,000
with war elephants) under Hasdrubal (brother of Hannibal) and was the turning
point in expelling the Carthginians from Italy.

206 BC Ch'in Dynasty ends in China - The
shortest of the great dynasties of China (15 years)

179 BC Dedication of the Temple
of Diana and a Temple of Juno Regina in Campus Martias by M. Aemilius
Lepidus

179 BC June 29, Dedication of Temple
for Hercules and Muses

174 BC The Circus Maximus in Rome
reconstructed

172 BC Rome commences Third Macedonain War
(172-167) against Perseus (son of Philip V) of Macedon

168 BC June 22, Battle of Pydna
(eastern Greece), Third Macedonian War (172-167) ends
with the defeat of Perseus of Macedon (son of Philip V) and his army of 44,000 by
Lucius Aemilius Paulus and Roman
force of 25,000 after which Macedonia
(Greece) becomes a Roman Province.

46 BC Julius Caesar defeats
Metellus Scipio, Juba I - King of Numidia and remaining forces of Pompey at
Thapsus, south of ancient Carthage

46 BC Julius Caesar reforms
Roman Calendar with 30 days in April, June, Sept & Nov and 28/29 days for Feb to
create the "Julian" calendar; which was in use thru 1582 and after,
until the "Gregorian" calendar was adopted.

45 BC March 17 Julius Caesar defeats
Pompey's sons at Munda (S.Spain) during War of the First Triumvirate. The
battle was Caesar's last and hardest fought engagement.